History of the Museum :
In the village of Lafontaine, family, religion and the French language have always been of great importance to the members of the community. The evening family prayer, the spontaneous kitchen get-togethers, the traditions passed from one generation to the next have changed somewhat, but they have certainly not disappeared. Family roots are still vibrantly strong and healthy.
A few senior citizens, fearing that their past way of life be forgotten by their grand-children, came up with the idea of opening a “museum”. The Club de l’âge d’or, that is the local senior’s group, formed a committee consisting of several residents. This committee’s mandate was to study the feasibility of setting up a museum for francophones, managed by francophones. Many months of discussion of research, of comparative studies seemed to indicate that a typical museum housing artefacts would most probably not be self-sustaining financially. Projects of a heritage and cultural nature seemed to be a better choice. During a public meeting, the community decided to celebrate their French heritage and culture by hosting a festival. This gave birth to Le Festival du Loup.
During each Festival, the museum is set up at the parish hall of Église Sainte-Croix in the village of Lafontaine. Art exhibits, crafts, antiques, historical documents make up the physical aspect of the museum according to the theme chosen. Each year, three pioneer families are chosen to present the genealogy of their family. Photographs, documents, anecdotes are set up for viewing and for sharing. For 2010, the families being honoured are the descendants of pioneer families: Marchildon, Moreau, Tessier and Courtemanche.
No, the area does not yet feature a building bearing the name “Museum”, but the past is vividly remembered and celebrated in the village of Lafontaine.
Courtemanche Family: Antoine Courtemanche, son of Pierre and Marie Houde, was born in August 1640 in a small village in France. He arrived in Montreal in 1659 and four years later married Elisabeth Haguin, a young lady also from France. So began the family that would eventually find descendants living in Ontario. Seven of the ten children of Louis Marie Courtemanche and his wife Angélique Gatien, left the Beauharnois area of Québec in 1868 and relocated in Lindsay, Ontario. Lindsay was their home for only a few years before they sought other areas. Daughter Angèle married and left for the United States but son Clément established himself well in Lindsay and remained there all his life, as did his sister Belthilde.
Narcisse, Moïse, Alphonse, their mother and the remaining members of the family moved on to Midland and Penetanguishene about 1872. Philomène and her husband Louis Emmanuel Maheu settled in Tiny Township near Lafontaine. Alphonse opened a lumber business and remained in Midland. Narcisse later to be known as Nelson, owned businesses in both Midland and Penetanguishene including the Mammoth Rink, a well known curling and skating arena. Moïse, skilled as a carpenter, established himself in Penetanguishene. He became a widower in 1883. The following year he married Euphronosime Robitaille in Lafontaine and moved to Midland for a period and then settled on a farm on the 14th concession of Tiny. Moïse and his wife are buried in the Ste-Croix cemetary in Lafontaine.
Louis Émmanuel Maheu is the ancestor of all the Maheu descendants in Huronia. |
Marchildon Family: René Marchildon was the first to come to Canada fromSaint-Phéré, Poitou Parish in France . He was the son of Vincent Marchildon and Jeanne Lamarque. On April 26th 1736, he sailed to New-France on the ship named Le Héros. He was a salt merchant and became a farmer in Batiscan. On February 29th 1740, at the age of 36, he married Marie Joséphite Baribeau at Ste Geneviève in Batiscan, Québec. All their 11 children were born and baptized in Batiscan.
Joseph, of the third generation, baptized September 5th 1745, married Madeleine Roy dit
Chatellereau on February 23th 1767. They had 5 children: Joseph, Madeleine, Louis, our ancestor, Marie and Marguerite. He cultivated the land in Batiscan and died May 10, 1824.
Louis, baptized on April 27th 1778 in Batiscan, married Victoire Rhéau dit Alexandre à St-François-Xavier –de –Batiscan August 9 1802. They had 12 children: Joseph dit Fanfan, Thomas, deputy of Champlain County for the 4th and 5th parlements, Clet, Marie-Victoire, Pierre Léandre, Marie-Zacharie, Flavie, Sévère qui épousa Émilie Tessier, Constant, François, Hector et Louis. Louis died July 31 st 1869.
Six of Louis’s descendants settled in the Sainte-Croix Parish in Lafontaine.
Hector settled on his own property on Concession 15 in Tiny. He built a home and a saw mill near the creek running through his property. He returned to Batiscan to marry Olive Despins on July 6th 1847 . They returned to Lafontaine to stay and start their family.
Constant married Geneviève Tessier in Penetanguishene on February 23rd 1846. They settled on a farm on Concession 17 in Lafontaine and had 14 children.
Louis married Annie Leduc in Penetanguishene on April 12 1853.
The three sisters Marie- Victoire (Mme François Labissonnière), Marie-Flavie ( Mme Abraham Maurice ) et Marie-Calixte ( Mme Casimir Brunelle) married in Batiscan and moved to Huronia with their children between the years 1846 and 1855. |
Moreau Family : Jean Moreau of the first generation of the Moreau ancestry was born before 1643 in Javresac, St-Onge,France. He was married to Anne Jeanne Guillet Lajeunesse in 1667 in Québec. Jean and Anne Jeanne had 10 children. Jean died in 1711 at the age of 68 and was buried in Batiscan , Québec.
Joseph Moreau of the 5th generation was born in Batiscan, Québec on May 16th 1792. He married Rosalie Rouillard St-Cyr August 17 ,1818 in Batiscan. The family arrived in Tiny Township after 1838 and were farmers in Lafontaine. They had 10 children all born in Batiscan of which six came to Tiny Township.
Joseph Constant Moreau, born 1819 in Batiscan married Marie Lafrenière on February 29th 1848 at St Ann’s Church in Penetanguishene. All of their eight children were born in the Tiny Township area. He died at the age of 47 in Lafontaine on May 26, 1866.
Thomas Théodore Moreau born 1829 in Batiscan , married Eulalie Vallée in 1852 at St. Ann’s church .
Antoine Ferdinand ( Fred ) Moreau born August 12 1831 married Sophie Dusang on February 19 1855 at St.Ann’s Church in Penetanguishene. He lived on Concession 12, lot 15 in Tiny Township in 1861. Fred was at various times employed as a farmer, mill hand and a sailor. Ferdinand and Sophie Dusang had 13 children all born in the Lafontaine area. Fred died by drowning on July 16, 1914 at the age of 82 in Waubashene
Marie Rose Délima Moreau born September 28, 1833 in Batiscan married Jean-Baptiste Tessier on February 29th 1848 in Penetanguishene. He died on November 6 of that same year at the age of 21. Marie Rose married Olivier Lafrenière, son of Antoine Lafrenière
on January 14 1852 in St.Ann’s Church. They had eight children . Marie Rose was buried on June 27 1866 in Ste-Croix Cemetary in Lafontaine.
Hubert Toussaint Moreau , born 1835 in Batiscan , married Zoë Lafrenière in Sainte-Croix Church in 1864. They had 5 children : Marie Victoire, Toussaint, Jean-Baptiste, Hector Thomas and Marie Rose De Lima Moreau.
Guillaume Wilbord ( William ) Moreau born 1838 in Batiscan, married Appolina ( Pauline ) Moreau on January 11 in 1858 in St.Ann’s Church. They lived on Conc 16, lot 18 in Tiny Township and had one child , Constant Moreau. |
Tessier Family: Mathurin Tessier dit Maringouin, the immigrant ancestor, was born in Ste-Ausone, d’Angoulène Angournois, France about 1630. After signing a contract for a three year engagement with François Perron, Mathurin left LaRochelle, France about April 1657. He arrived in New-France on June 2, 1657 on the ship Le Taureau, after a two month voyage. In 1670, he married Élisabeth Letourneau in Montreal and they took up residence just outside of Québec City in Champlain County.
Until their descendant Alexis Tessier left Québec City for Ontario, the family had farmed in the area of Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade and Batiscan in Champlain County for over five generations. Alexis, born in 1793 in Batiscan, left Québec with his wife Euphrosime Papillo Périgny and eight of their eleven children. They arrived in Tiny Township in 1835 and were among the first wave of settlers of the area known as Sainte-Croix. Alexis applied to the government for land on the 16th concession. It was on lot # 18, a 200 acre parcel, that Alexis and Euphrosine farmed and raised their children. Their children married within the community with fellow settlers from Québec, the Drummond Island descendants and the English speaking population. They operated businesses and farmed in and around the areas of Lafontaine and Penetanguishene. A desire for land and adventure resulted in some of the grandchildren leaving and establishing homes in western Canada and the United States. Among the names of the early settlers of Saint-Léon, Manitoba |
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